


Sherlock's Silver Crown

by TheSherlocked



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 05:12:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11074761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSherlocked/pseuds/TheSherlocked
Summary: Ficlet based on a discussion about how Sherlock might have wanted to marry a prince, and dealt with the years until equal marriage became legal.





	Sherlock's Silver Crown

Sherlock Holmes is five years old when he starts to realize he has feelings for another boy in his class. It’s not concrete, just something around that edges that he comprehends as appreciating the boy’s features, his voice, his laugh, a little more than he appreciates them with anyone else. They aren’t best friends, so it can’t be explained away by that. The boy just looks so splendid in his pirate hat, golden hair poking out in a collection of angles, the light from occasional sun causing little Sherlock’s breath to catch. 

Sherlock is eight years old when he rushes into his father’s office in tears, bottom lip trembling, because he has a secret and does not know how his father will react. When asked, Sherlock cautiously tells his father that someone in ballet class said Sherlock can never marry a prince. So unnerved by the statement, and his own fear, Sherlock is shaking. Instead of the usual pirate hat, Sherlock has been wearing a silver crown with a purple stone in the center of the delicate filigree. When his father explains that marriage is still illegal between people of the same gender, Sherlock rips the crown off its precious perch of dusky curls, and dashes it to the floor. His father picks up Sherlock, putting him into his lap, wrapping warm arms around the little boy’s wiry frame. Sherlock cries miserably against his chest, the oatmeal-colored jumper his father is wearing, soaked through. When Sherlock has calmed down a bit, his father leans down and picks up the crown, taking his son back to his own room to sleep for the night. While there, he puts the crown in the bottom drawer of Sherlock’s dresser, assuring him, “There’s hope yet, little one.” After that night, Sherlock stops calling Mr. Holmes Father, and uses Dad. 

Sherlock is thirteen years old when he discovers an army recruiting poster among some items Mycroft is sent in the mail. His brother has already gone on to university, preparing for a life of civil service in the government. Knowing Mycroft won’t have need of it, Sherlock surreptitiously removes the poster from the mail, and keeps it in a box in his room. A few months later, he is brave enough to put it on the wall across from his bed. A month later, he adds another. Then another. Six months in, there are eight posters. Mummy and Dad ask, “Are you thinking of joining the military, son?” Sherlock presses his lips together, averting his eyes, and shaking his head. His parents remain quiet, watchful, and after some time to collect himself, Sherlock raises his hand to make a falsely careless gesture toward the collection. “I thought the colors would just work well in this room, and posters are easy to change out.” The men in the posters are mostly in fatigues, the colors of the desert and drab greens. Sherlock’s room is decorated in blues and greys. His parents nod, agree readily, and then leave. Out in the hallway, they knowingly smile at one another, and then go on with their day. 

Sherlock is fifteen years old when he enters his father’s office again, a weight on his shoulders that his father recalls from that long-ago conversation, if not the trembling lips and tears. A searching look is all he gives, and Sherlock lifts his head in a defiant gesture his father knows is meant to convey his son is half-wracked with trepidation. “I’m gay,” is all that Sherlock says at first. His father stands up, placing his hands on each of his son’s slender shoulders, warmth infusing the smile he delivers. “Thank you so much for telling me. I’ve suspected since you told me you wanted to marry a handsome prince, but thank you. I appreciate that you trust me with this Sherlock, and I love you.” Sherlock later tells his mother, her reception to the news being much the same as his father’s had been.  

Sherlock is seventeen years old when he falls for Victor Trevor, a fellow classmate with whom he shares a love for chemistry and dogs. Victor is on the rugby team, and Sherlock attends all the games. It’s with Victor that Sherlock has his first romantic kiss, but when Victor’s father finds out about their burgeoning relationship, he threatens to cut Victor off from the rest of the family. Victor is not afraid for himself, but for his younger sister, who he suspects might be bisexual. He doesn’t want to cave to their father’s demands, but he doesn’t want to leave his sister alone, with only their mother to act as intermediary. Victor breaks off the relationship with Sherlock. He’s not cried since he was eight, but that night, Sherlock cries himself to sleep.

Sherlock is eighteen years old when he decides that romantic attachment is not for him. He rips down all the army posters, that despite his saying would be easy to change out, have been on his walls all that time. He tears them into long ribbons, refusing to look at the figures in each one as he does so, and his mother finds them in the morning trash. Concerned, she goes to ask Sherlock what had happened. Sherlock does not lash out as she expects, but rather, remarks with a cool expression that they were foolish and it was time he put all his walls to better use. That afternoon, he expands the wall of crime-related photos and thread that he has been using to work out leads on cases. He sorts out new areas in his Mind Palace, non-responsive to his parents for several hours, and they know the walls he’s putting to ‘better use’ aren’t just the ones in his physical room. 

Sherlock is thirty-four when he meets John Hamish Watson. The moment Mike Stamford walked into the room with the former army doctor, Sherlock switched off his phone to prevent any incoming calls or texts from making themselves apparent, and asks Mike to borrow his mobile on the pretext of his own not receiving a signal. The army doctor offers his own phone, and Sherlock quickly deduces him, then hands the phone back. Once he is sure John is properly aware of his intellect, Sherlock switches his phone back on, and makes a hasty exit. He is sure to wink at the doctor, and immediately goes out to shop for items that he believes John will appreciate in their new flat, distributing the flag pillow and comfortable red damask chair in the living room. He instructs Mrs. Hudson that she is going to have a new tenant, but runs out to avoid further questions. 

Sherlock is thirty-seven when equal marriage is made legal in the UK. Even for Sherlock it is too much to contain, the emotion that surfaces. He cries by himself in his room, but once he feels he has recovered enough, he goes out to purchase a small rainbow flag. He attends a celebratory parade, wearing the same silver crown that he had not put on since he was eight, and carrying the rainbow flag. He buys chocolates in phallic shapes, and returns to find John in the living room of 221B, reading the news. Slyly placing one of the chocolates in his mouth as he does so, Sherlock stands with his back to the door, but doesn’t say a word. John doesn’t understand at first, and gazes at him warily from over the edge of his paper, but eventually catches on. The only thing John has to ask, “Are we going to do it then?” Sherlock nods just a touch, replying quietly, “Yes, I’ve been waiting for you all my life.” 


End file.
